Consequences
by FicFan123
Summary: Emma has to deal with the consequences of her actions.


Emma watched as Regina rushed out of the diner, unwilling to watch the reunited Locksley's coo over each other any longer. "Damn it," she breathed, following the former Evil Queen out the door.

She caught up to the brunette half way down the block. "Regina, wait!"

"Miss Swan, I assure you that you do not want to be near me right now!" the mayor said angrily. "Go away!"

"I didn't mean for this to happen. I'm sorry," Emma said.

"And that fixes precisely nothing!" Regina snarled.

"I know. But I just couldn't…"

"Yes, you could have! You choose not to! Once again Charming arrogance has cost me someone I love," she yelled.

"I didn't…"

"I don't care! I don't care what you meant. I don't care what you thought. I don't care that you are sorry. Right now it is taking all my self-control not to fireball you into oblivion! I suggest you don't test that control much further," Regina said icily.

Emma swallowed. Regina's voice was getting colder by the second, and her eyes were taking on that crazed look. More like the Evil Queen she had just seen in the Enchanted Forest.

"Okay – I'll go away. Henry wants to spend some time with you – maybe tomorrow?" Emma asked, feeling only slightly guilty for using their son to calm the other woman.

Regina took a deep breath. "Yes. I'll pick him up in the morning. Will you be staying with your parents now?"

Emma shook her head, relieved when Regina's voice lost its chill, though it was obvious the woman was beyond angry. "No – what with the baby and all, I thought it would be better if Henry and I kept staying at Granny's."

"Where?"

"Granny's."

Regina continued to look at her in confusion.

"Where we have been staying?"

"You mean Walt's?" the brunette said.

"Who's Walt?"

"He was Sleepy? One of your mother's dwarf's? He owns the diner and inn?"

"I know him – but he doesn't own the diner. Granny does! Ruby's grandmother?"

"Miss Lucas does not have a grandmother that I am aware of. No family, actually," Regina.

"Oh come on, old lady? Good with a cross bow?"

Regina shook her head.

"Oh, no," Emma said, suddenly feeling rocks in her stomach. She turned back toward the diner – freezing when she saw the sign. The sign she had been in too big a hurry to see when she had rushed in to find her parents earlier. The sign that read "Walt's".

Emma ran back into the diner, Regina trailing at a more elegant pace behind her. She looked around frantically – finding Ruby cooing over baby Neal at her parent's table.

"Ruby! Where's Granny?"

A sad look feel over Ruby's face. "My Granny?" Emma nodded. "She died years ago. How do you know about her?"

"Did you meet her in the Enchanted Forest, Emma?" Snow asked, smiling. "She was a wonderful old lady. Tough as they came."

"I knew her," Emma said, staring at Ruby. "Oh, God – I'm so sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Ruby asked.

Emma didn't answer.

"Tell her, Miss Swan. Tell her what your arrogance cost her," Regina said standing behind Emma.

"Emma? What's going on?" Snow asked. "What's wrong, sweetie?"

Emma shook her head and looked at her friend's confused face.

"Ruby…" Emma couldn't continue.

"Ruby's grandmother was supposed to be alive, wasn't she, Miss Swan? Until you decided to play god with the past," Regina said.

"Emma? Is that true?" Ruby demanded.

"Yes," Emma said softly. "I didn't mean.."

"Granny wasn't supposed to die? She was supposed to be here? With me?" Ruby yelled.

Emma nodded.

"Oh, sweetie," Snow said, reaching out to comfort her friend.

Ruby shrugged her hand off. "What did you do?"

"I… changed the past. I thought it wouldn't hurt anything, but…"

"Wouldn't hurt anything?!" Ruby repeated incredulously.

"Miss Swan was warned quite strongly that any changes to the past could have unforeseen consequences. But of course she thought those rules couldn't possibly apply to her," Regina went on.

"Regina! That's enough," David snapped.

"Really, Charming? Tell me one thing I have said that isn't the complete and absolute truth?" the former mayor challenged.

"Did you change the past on purpose, Emma?" Ruby demanded. "Or was it an accident?"

"I couldn't just let Marion die," Emma said softly.

"You changed the past on purpose. How could you do something so …stupid?" Ruby demanded.

"Hey – that's my daughter you are talking to," Snow interjected.

"Yes – who is responsible for the fact that Granny is gone. You know – the woman that took you in!" Ruby snapped back.

"Ruby I never meant.." Emma started.

"I don't want to hear it. We're done," the young woman said, walking away.

"Red!" Snow called out, but the other woman ignored her. The baby in her arms began to wail.

"I didn't.." Emma said.

"Unforeseen consequences, Miss Swan. It is what happens when you meddle with things you do not understand. I wonder how many other lives have been disrupted because of what you have done?" Regina asked her.

"Let it be, sister," Grumpy said. He had been standing, listening to the conversation along with most of the diner. "What's done is done. Maybe you should go."

"You need to stay out of things that don't concern you, dwarf!" Regina snapped.

"And you need to settle down and stop upsetting the baby. Nobody messes with the little prince while the five dwarves are around."


End file.
